Surface cleaning apparatus using abrading particulate cleaning material

ABSTRACT

An abrasive cleaning apparatus comprising a housing defining a substantially closed operating chamber with a pair of rotating impellers therein. The abrasive cleaning material is directed into the chamber where the blades of the impellers contact the particulate cleaning material and throw the material through an open front area of the chamber against the surface to be cleaned. At the front of the housing is a yielding perimeter portion which provides a seal against the surface which is being cleaned. The waste material removed from the surface being cleaned is drawn through an outlet port to a cyclone type separating chamber where the abrasive particulate material is separated and directed back to the operating chamber, and the waste material is delivered to a waste location. The abrasive material in the housing remains in the housing and is directed repeatedly against the surface to be cleaned. When the abrasive material becomes sufficiently ground down to a small enough size, then it is removed through the waste removal conduit along with the waste material removed from the surface to be cleaned.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/447,838, filed Nov. 13, 1999, which claims the benefit of the priority dates of the Provisional Application Serial. No. 60/148,411, filed Aug. 11, 1999, and Provisional Application Serial. No. 60/109,609, filed Nov. 23, 1998. This application also claims the benefit of the priority date of the Provisional Application Serial. No. 60/308,025, filed Jul. 25, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] a) Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for abrasive cleaning, and more particularly to such an apparatus which is particularly adapted for cleaning a surface, such as a metallic surface, by use of particulate material.

[0004] b) Background

[0005] There are in the prior art various machines which are capable of cleaning large metal surfaces, such as the side surface of the hull of a ship. The process in cleaning the surface generally consists of propelling abrasive material toward the surface to be cleaned. Effective cleaning occurs when the abrasive material repetitiously strikes the surface at sufficiently high velocities. The abrasive material can be steel shot, which impacts the surface and removes matter adhering to the surface such as paint, rust, barnacles or any other material. This material on the surface becomes particulate material which must be removed from cleaning apparatus.

[0006] The steel shot or grit used in the apparatus of the present invention is common in the art. The individual steel shot pieces are generally about {fraction (1/16)}″ in diameter with a course grainy exterior. It is advantageous that the cleaning apparatus use the least amount of shot per unit of surface area cleaned.

[0007] When the shot impacts the surface, the paint and other surface material that are removed and ground shot that results can be hazardous to breath and harmful to the environment.

[0008] In order to accomplish the cleaning task properly, it is desirable that the apparatus be able to be located in a cleaning position so that it will clean the surface area very close to the water line. A similar situations exist when the surface of a tank, building or other structure is being cleaned, and it is necessary to clean at various locations which are proximate to other objects, ground surfaces, etc.

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively compact, light weight cleaning apparatus which in addition to cleaning effectively, is able to be positioned at locations to accomplish cleaning of surface areas which would otherwise (with some prior art machines) be either difficult to clean or even inaccessible.

[0010] It is a further object of this invention to provide a dust collecting means to remove particulate that has been sufficiently ground up so that the still useful particulate cleaning can be recycled and redirected to the surface to be cleaned.

[0011] It is another object of the present invention to reduce the lbs. pounds of abrasive used per hour, thus cleaning more surface area per pound of abrasive.

[0012] It is still another object of the invention to provide a system of maintaining a perimeter to limit dust loss from the internal workings of the sand blasting apparatus.

[0013] It is still another object of the invention to use adjustment cylinders to align the cleaning apparatus.

[0014] It is still another object of the invention to have a painting system employed that paints the freshly cleaned surface shortly after it has been cleaned before rust develops.

[0015] It is still another object of the invention to have the task of painting the surface be accomplished in an automated manner.

[0016] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the remaining portion of the specification.

[0017] c) Background Art

[0018] The current methods of removing paint from a surface such as a hull of a ship consist of covering a ship with plastic material to substantially keep shot and debris therein. A person in protective clothing wields a hose that dispenses shot material at the surface to remove the paint. This method has severe disadvantages. There plastic covering is very expensive not very effective in keeping debris contained. Further the vessel must be dry docked which is expensive and not always an option at certain ports.

[0019] A search of the patent literature has a number of patents directed toward these problems, these being the following:

[0020] U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,167 (Carpenter) shows several embodiments of an abrasive cleaning machine. FIGS. 5 and 6 show such a machine adapted to clean a vertical surface. There is a “throwing wheel 90” which rotates to engage the particles and causes these to travel in a downward path to strike the vertical surface 232 that is being cleaned. The particles rebound from this surface and follow a path that is away from the surface and then upwardly to flow into an upper hopper 234. From the hopper 234, the abrasive material flows into a supply passage 240 to be engaged by a “accelerator wheel 180” which directs the particulate material back into the veins of the throwing wheel 90. FIG. 6 shows an embodiment which operates in substantially the same way as the machine shown in FIG. 5, except that the throwing wheel 90 is at a lower location and it rotates in such a manner to engage the particulate at a lower location and it rotates in such a manner to engage the particulate abrasive material and throw this upwardly to the surface 280 where the material rebounds away from the surface 280 and upwardly to fall into the hopper 282, from which the particulate material is again directed into the feed wheel. In both of these embodiments there is an alternative path. In FIG. 5 this is a passageway 248 which directs the particles back into the feed wheel or accelerator wheel 180. It is stated that there is a vacuum line 252 by which the returning abrasive particles are cleaned by means of air drawn therethrough. This passageway 252 is shown at the bottom of the machine, and presumably these would be directed to the upper part of the passageway shown at 252 where it could be presumed that the particles flow back into the hopper 234.

[0021] U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,296 (Carpenter) shows an apparatus similar to, or substantially the same as, what is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,167.

[0022] U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,092 (Nelson) shows a cleaning apparatus having a rotating drum 22 having four radially extending blades 24. There is a hopper 30 which delivers the abrasive material downwardly through a slot 36 in which is a butterfly valve 56. The abrasive material flows downwardly, as indicated by the arrow 38 where it is engaged by the blades 24 against the surface 40. There is a “recovery path” indicated by the arrows 44. Apparently the velocity of the particles striking the surface 40 is sufficient so that without any additional force applied to the particles these are carried back to the hopper 30.

[0023] U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,942 shows an apparatus or shot blasting the bottom of a ship or the like. This apparatus is carried by a tracked vehicle and has an upwardly directed barrel 38 through which the shot is discharged. There is an impeller 33 which directs the shot upwardly against the surface to be cleaned.

[0024] U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,345 (Atsuchi) discloses an abrasive cleaning apparatus where compressed air is discharged through a tube 70 into a nozzle 30 so that a lower pressure is created in the sand hose 60 to enter into the space 45 downstream of the tube 70.

[0025] U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,969 (Diehan) illustrates a blast cleaning machine where there is a wheel 16 which is a centrifugal blasting wheel. Particulate material is fed into the center of wheel 30 from a supply hopper 32. The particulate material is thrown by the blast wheel 16 through a blast corridor 36 upwardly against the surface to be cleaned, with the particulate material rebounding into a rebounding corridor 38 where it is deflected back to the hopper 32. Air is drawn through an upper inlet 42 to flow through the rebound corridor 38 and thence upwardly through a chamber 36 where the dust particles and fine abrasives are drawn out through an exhaust port 48.

[0026] U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,986 (Shigyo) shows a cleaning machine where there is a rotary impeller 4 which receives the particulate material from a hopper 8. The material is directed from the impeller against the surface to be cleaned, and it drops downwardly through a shoot 21 to be deposited into a circular conveyor housing 22 that is rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis of rotation. There are blades 28 connected to the conveyor runner that are circumferentially spaced along the entire periphery of the runner. The material is carried to an upper location where it is redeposited into the hopper.

[0027] U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,141 (Watkin) shows an abrasive cleaning apparatus where there is a blast wheel 12 which rotates about a horizontal axis. Abrasive material is fed from a storage hopper 15 through a feed passage 25 to the hub 27 at the center of the last wheel 12. The blast wheel has a plurality of circumferentially spaced blades 31 which extend radially outwardly from this hub 27. The abrasive material is fed on to the inner end of the blades 31 and is displaced along the blades in response to the rapid rotational movement of the wheel. As seen in FIG. 3, the abrasive material from the wheel, as indicated by the arrows 38 travel to the vertical surface 36, and the rebounding abrasive material along with the dust and debris travels back to the wheel as particulate material. The particulate material collides with the blades 31 which deflects the mixture upwards into a rebound corridor 16. This creates a flow of the particulate material vertically upwardly through the chamber 32 to be deflected by a baffle 45 to pass over divider wall 46 down to a filter 14. The particulate material flows downwardly at 51 and is subjected to an air stream indicated by the arrows 53 which separates the relatively light dust and debris. The abrasive material falls into the storage hopper 15 and is again fed to the blast wheel 12.

[0028] U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,893 shows a cleaning apparatus with a recovery system. A cleaning material such as sand, water or the like are discharged from a plurality of rotatable nozzles to impact the surface. A fluid seal provides a seal between the housing and the surface and a vacuum source is connected to the housing for withdrawing the impacted cleaning material.

[0029] U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,041 (Dickson) shows a surface blasting apparatus where there is a storage compartment 34 for the stored abrasive 40 which flows downwardly to be engaged by a wheel assembly 78 which repels the abrasive stream 126 to the surface 128 to be cleaned. The cleaning material plus the debris that is removed rebounds upwardly to strike an upwardly curved wall 136 with the abrasive and the debris forming a horizontal stream 140 to drop downwardly toward the hopper to be recirculated. There is a dust collector 164 from which arrows drawn through an exhaust opening 166.

[0030] U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,436 (VanFossen) shows a portable blasting device where there is a hopper 10 from which the steel shot is fed through a tube 14 to a blast wheel not shown to be discharged through a blast corridor 14 against the surface to be cleaned. The shot rebounds to pass upwardly through a corridor 26 to be returned to the hopper.

[0031] U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,188 (Ashworth) shows an apparatus for cleaning the hulls of ships where the cleaning apparatus is mounted to a boom 14 that is in turn connected to an upper boom 15.

[0032] U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,417 (Shelton) shows a blasting machine where there is a support structure with a moveable boom with the blasting machine on its outer end. Means are provided to sense the positions of the blasting machine relative to the surface for treatment. Movements of the blasting machine away from the desired position are sensed and compensated to adjust the blasting mechanism toward the intended position.

[0033] U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,039 shows a lightweight hand operated abrasive blasting apparatus where an air stream with particulate abrasive material is carried into the cleaning apparatus to a center of an impeller which centrifugally repels the abrasive against the work surface. There is a vacuum tube which draws the material away.

[0034] U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,596 (Bergh) shows a portable blast cleaning unit where the material is directed into two abrasive throwing material 16 which direct the abrasive material against the surface where it is rebounded and directed back to a feed hopper.

[0035] U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,272 (Diehn et al.) shows a portable upblast cleaning head where there is an impeller wheel which directs the abrasive material upwardly (see FIG. 2) the rebounding material drops into a chamber to be returned to a hopper where the material 18 is again directed back to the wheel.

[0036] U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,969 (Diehn) shows a surface blasting system which the blasting particles are propelled by impeller wheel 16, and bounce off of the work surface. The debris, and the abrasive pass into chamber 38, in which the abrasive bounces off surface 40 into the storage chamber 32 while the debris and air accumulate in chamber 46 to the exit.

[0037] U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,967 (Kamper et al.) shows a cleaning machine where the blasting material is propelled by pressurized air.

[0038] U.S. Pat. No. 2,036,615 (Wean) shows a system for treating sheet material so as to clean a surface. The material is passed to blast wheels 10 and 11 which impel abrasive material against the sheet to remove contaminating surface material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0039] The abrasive cleaning apparatus and method of the present invention is adapted to be used in a variety of applications and environments. A typical use of the present invention for which it is particularly adapted is to clean large surface areas which are generally vertically aligned and also large surface areas where accessibility close to perimeter locations is desirable. Thus, the present invention can very advantageously be used, in, for example, cleaning the surfaces of the hull of a ship. The abrasive cleaning apparatus of the present invention comprises a housing having a front portion, a back portion, and also having back, top, bottom and side wall portions, which wall portions collectively provide interior surface portions that define an operating chamber to contain cleaning material therein.

[0040] The apparatus has an open front portion, and the top, bottom and side wall portions have a front perimeter portion that defines a general impact region at the front opening. The perimeter portion is arranged to be positioned adjacent to a work surface portion of a work surface to be cleaned, which (as indicated above) could be the surface of a hull of a ship.

[0041] There is at least one impeller which has a plurality of impact surfaces and which is positioned in the operating chamber at an operating location to rotate about an axis of rotation. The impeller has its axis of rotation oriented and its impact surfaces positioned so that with the impeller rotating, as the cleaning surfaces impact the cleaning material in the operating region, portions of the cleaning material are directed toward the impact region to strike against the work surface portion so that the material striking against the work surface portion rebounds back into the operating chamber.

[0042] The housing is arranged so that with the perimeter portion being engaged with the work surface, the operating chamber is substantially closed. The interior surface portions of the housing are arranged to cause portions of the cleaning material that rebound from the work surface into the operating chamber to come in contact with the surface portions of the impeller and be caused to be redirected so that quantities of the cleaning material move into the operating location of the impeller to be impacted again by the impeller and directed toward the impacted claim.

[0043] Thus, portions of the cleaning material remain in the chamber and are repetitively directed against the work surface to be cleaned.

[0044] The perimeter portion of the impeller is arranged so that as the impeller rotates, at the time when the impact surfaces are moving in a direction toward the impact region, the impact surfaces are aligned to impart an upward component of motion of the cleaning material in its path toward the impact region.

[0045] In one embodiment, the axis rotation of the impeller is generally vertically aligned, but with an alignment component with an upward and rearward slant.

[0046] In another arrangement (or as an added feature in the arrangement), the impact surfaces slant from the axis of rotation in a manner that during the time period when the impact surfaces are traveling toward the impact region, the impact surfaces have an upward and rearward slant relative to the axis rotation of the impeller.

[0047] In the preferred form, there are first and second impellers rotatably mounted in the operating chamber at first and second operating locations spaced laterally from one another. In one version, each of the first and second impellers has an upper and a lower set of impact surfaces spaced vertically from one another.

[0048] The back wall portion in a preferred form has its surface portion formed in two convexly curved surface portions extending at least partially around rear portions of the circular path of travel of radially outward portions of the impact surfaces of the impellers.

[0049] Also, in the preferred form, the side wall portions of the housing extend in a forward and outward direction so as to diverge outwardly from one another toward the impact region.

[0050] In the preferred embodiment, there is a cleaning material inlet to direct cleaning material into the operating chamber, and a waste outlet system to remove waste material from the cleaning chamber toward a disposal location. The waste removal system comprises a waste outlet positioned to receive a flow of air and waste material from the operating chamber, a waste separator to receive the flow of air and waste material to separate waste material from particulate cleaning material. The removal system is adapted to be connected to a low-pressure source to cause an outflow of waste material from the separating chamber toward a waste disposal location.

[0051] In a preferred form, the separator has a separation chamber, and the waste removal system has a conduit defining a flow passage from the waste outlet and leading to the separation chamber to cause a circumferential air flow in the separating chamber to separate more dense particulate material from the waste material. The separator further comprises a cleaning material outlet to return particulate cleaning material in the apparatus.

[0052] In one form, the waste removal system comprises two waste outlets and two conduits defining passageways which deliver a flow of air and waste material to the separating chamber. The two passageways direct their air flow into the separating chamber to cause the circumferential flow in the separating chamber.

[0053] The perimeter portion comprises a yielding seal perimeter having an engaging surface to engage the work surface and being yielding so as to conform to deviations of the contour of the work surface. In one form, the perimeter portion comprises a first inner perimeter work surface engaging portion and a second outer perimeter work surface engaging portion spaced outwardly from the first inner work surface engaging portion.

[0054] Also in a preferred form the housing has a containing structure positioned below the bottom wall of the housing that defines a collecting chamber. The containing structure has a forward edge portion located below a perimeter portion of the bottom wall portion of the housing so as to form with a portion of the work surface below the perimeter portion of the bottom wall an enclosed collecting area. Thus, any material passing by the perimeter portion of the bottom wall is collected in the collecting area. The apparatus has a return passageway connected to a low pressure source to withdraw material collected in the collecting chamber. This material is in the preferred form recirculated in a manner to be directed back to the operating chamber.

[0055] There is a positioning and alignment section adapted to be mounted to a base location and having an operating end to carry the cleaning apparatus to a location adjacent to the work surface and to align and move the cleaning apparatus along the work surface. The apparatus further comprises position sensing means mounted to the housing and arranged to detect a position of the perimeter portion where part of the perimeter portion is spaced away from the work surface. The control system is responsive to this sensing means to cause the position and alignment section to properly position the housing so that the perimeter portion is in proper sealing engagement with the work surface.

[0056] Also, in one embodiment the positioning and alignment section has a section portion to position a surface treatment apparatus and to move the surface treatment apparatus along the surface to be cleaned.

[0057] There is a control means that has storage capacity to receive information relating to positioning of the cleaning apparatus, and to transmit this information to a control means for the surface treatment apparatus to cause the surface treatment apparatus to be positioned at locations that are coordinated with the locations of the cleaning apparatus on the work surface so that the surface treatment apparatus is able to be properly positioned in appropriate surface locations which previously have been cleaned by the cleaning apparatus.

[0058] In the method of the present invention, the apparatus is provided as described above. The housing is positioned so that the perimeter portion is positioned against the work surface to be cleaned. The particulate cleaning material is directed into the operating chamber, and the impeller is positioned in an operating location in the chamber and rotated so that its impacted surfaces direct the particulate material to the impact region. As the particulate material rebounds from the work surface back into the operating chamber, the material rebounds off the interior surfaces of the chamber and portions of this material are contacted by the impeller surfaces to be directed repeatedly against the work surface being cleaned. It is believed that other features of the method of the present invention are apparent from the above description. Further, other features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059]FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus of the present invention in its operating position;

[0060]FIG. 2 is a rear view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

[0061]FIG. 3 is a front view of a cleaning apparatus itself;

[0062]FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the cleaning apparatus taken at line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

[0063]FIG. 5 is a side view of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system;

[0064]FIG. 6 is a top view of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system;

[0065]FIGS. 7A and 7B are side views of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system positioned to clean two surfaces at different slanted positions;

[0066]FIGS. 8A and 8B are top views of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system adapted to clean two surfaces at different slanted positions;

[0067]FIG. 9 is a front view of the cleaning apparatus, where the components of the separation system of the cleaning apparatus are shown in cross section;

[0068]FIG. 9a is a top view of winglets that are rigidly attached to the impellers;

[0069]FIG. 10 is a horizontal sectional view of the separation system;

[0070]FIGS. 11A and 11B are side cross-sectional views of the peripheral engagement enclosure system;

[0071]FIG. 12 is a top view of the peripheral engagement enclosure system;

[0072]FIG. 13 is a rear view of a second embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention in its operating position;

[0073]FIG. 14 is a top view of the a second embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention in its operating position;

[0074]FIG. 15 is a front cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the cleaning apparatus itself;

[0075]FIG. 16 is a side view the second embodiment of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system;

[0076]FIG. 17 is a front view of the sandblasting chamber showing the inner in the outer rubber gaskets

[0077]FIG. 18 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention;

[0078]FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of the gasket system;

[0079]FIG. 20 is a top view of the cleaning apparatus and positioning system;

[0080]FIG. 21 is a top cross-sectional view of the sand injection system;

[0081]FIG. 22 is a front elevational view of the machine suspended from an upper location and positioned for cleaning a surface area, where the front of the machine would be positioned against the surface area to be cleaned;

[0082]FIG. 23 is a side elevational view of the machine shown in FIG. 21;

[0083]FIG. 24 is a side elevational view taken from the same location as FIG. 22, except showing the machine tilted at an angle to clean a slanted surface;

[0084]FIG. 25 is a side elevational view of a an embodiment similar to FIGS. 22-24 except the impeller arrangements are tilted;

[0085]FIG. 26 is a side view of a fourth embodiment;

[0086]FIG. 27 is a cross sectional plan view of the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

[0087]FIG. 28 is a front view of the fourth embodiment;

[0088]FIG. 29 is a front view of an alternative blade configuration;

[0089]FIG. 30 is a front view of a split blade configuration;

[0090]FIG. 31 is a side view of a sixth embodiment;

[0091]FIG. 32 is a top view of the sixth embodiment;

[0092]FIG. 33 is a cross-sectional view of the double gasket system take at line 33 in FIG. 31.

[0093]FIG. 34 is an semi-schematic isometric view of one of the impeller sets of the seventh embodiment of the present invention;

[0094]FIG. 35 is an isometric view of one of the impeller units of the impeller set shown in FIG. 34;

[0095]FIG. 36 is an isometric view similar to FIG. 35, showing two impeller units positioned adjacent to one another;

[0096]FIG. 37 is a top plan view of one of the impeller units;

[0097]FIG. 38 is a side elevational view of one of the impeller units, and also showing below the impeller unit two of the impact members of a lower impeller unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0098] Throughout this description reference is made to top and bottom, front and rear. While the apparatus of the present invention is particularly well adapted to clean a vertical or near vertical surface, it could also function and/or be adapted to function in numerous positions and orientations. These orientation terms, such as top and bottom, are obviously used for aiding the description and are not meant to limit the invention to any specific orientation.

[0099] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the main components comprise the positioning system 20, an alignment system 21 and the cleaning apparatus 22.

[0100] The positioning system 20 consists of a mechanical arm 23 and wheeled platform 24. The mechanical arm 22 is pivotally mounted on wheeled platform 24 at pivot points 26 a and 26 b. The mechanical arm 23 can be an arrangement of parallel four-bar linkages where, for example arm components 28 and 29 are parallel and have pivot points 26 a and 26 b pivotally connected to the wheeled platform 24. The arm components also have pivot points 34 a and 34 b pivotally connected to the juncture location 36. The points 26 a, 26 b, 34 a and 34 b are symmetrically positioned in a manner that allows the juncture location 36 to transverse and not to rotate providing a consistent base for the next arm components.

[0101] This parallel four-bar linkage arrangement can continue through the linkages throughout the mechanical arm 23. The arm components 30 and 31 are pivotally connected to 35 a and 35 b respectively, and also connected to pivot points 38 a and 38 b at juncture location 37. So juncture location 37 will also traverse and not rotate. The arm sets 39 and 40 have a similar arrangement and connection as arm components 31 and 32. Thus, as seen in FIG. 5, points 42 a and 42 b of juncture location 41 can be substantially vertical assuming deflection throughout mechanical arm 23 is minimal.

[0102] As seen in FIGS. 5-8, the cleaning apparatus 22 is mounted to the alignment system 21. The alignment system 21 comprises a U-frame 44, a horizontal alignment hydraulic cylinder 46 and vertical alignment hydraulic cylinder 48.

[0103] The alignment system 21 can position the cleaning apparatus 22 to be properly positioned so that the perimeter edge 64 is in contact with the surface 51. This system is pivotally attached to the juncture location 41 of the mechanical arm 23 at pin 43 (see FIG. 5). The U-frame 44 can pivot about pin 43 to rotate in the horizontal plane. This movement is carried out by extending and contracting horizontal alignment cylinder 46 which is pivotally connected to the juncture location 41 at point 45 and pivotally connected to the U-frame 44 at point 47.

[0104] As seen in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the mechanical arm 23 is not perpendicular to the surface 51 in the horizontal plane. In order to maintain contact of the perimeter edge 64 to the surface 51, the cleaning apparatus must rotate in the horizontal plane. As seen in FIG. 8a when the horizontal alignment hydraulic cylinder 46 extends, it rotates the U-frame 44 clockwise which in turn rotates the cleaning apparatus 22. Likewise in FIG. 8b to keep the perimeter edge 64 in contact with the surface 51 the horizontal alignment hydraulic cylinder 46 is contracted which rotates the U-frame 44 counter clockwise to the position shown in FIG. 8b.

[0105] The vertical alignment of the cleaning apparatus 22 can be accomplished by the alignment system 21 by extending or contracting vertical alignment cylinders 48 which are pivotally attached to the U-frame 44 at point 49 and pivotally attached to the cleaning apparatus 22 at point 50.

[0106] To adjust the cleaning apparatus to accommodate vertical alignment hydraulic cylinder 48 can rotate the cleaning apparatus 22. As seen in FIG. 7a if the surface 51 is an inverted steep slope, such as the lower portion of a ship near the water line, the cleaning apparatus 22 must rotate clockwise for the perimeter edge 64 will keep in contact with the surface 51. If the slope of the surface 51 is as shown in FIG. 7B, the operator of the machine can retract the vertical alignment hydraulic cylinder 48 which rotates the cleaning apparatus 22 counter clockwise.

[0107] As seen in FIG. 5, the cleaning apparatus 22 has a front end 60 and rear end 62. There is a housing 52 that is rectangular in shape and a horizontal axis 63 extending from the rear end 62 to the front end 60. As seen in FIG. 4, in the interior portion of the housing 52 is a chamber wall 54 which defines an operating chamber 56. At the front portion of this containing chamber 56 is a forward open region 58, which functions as an impact region where the abrasive cleaning material impacts the surface to be cleaned. Around the perimeter of this forward open region 58 is a perimeter edge portion 64 to provide a seal with the surface to be cleaned.

[0108] As seen in FIG. 3, in the inner central portion of the cleaning apparatus 22 are two impeller sets 66. Each impeller set 66 comprises an upper impeller 68, a lower impeller 70 and a shaft 72. The impeller sets have center axis about the center of rotation of the impeller sets 66. Each set of impellers 68 and 70 are fixedly mounted to its related shaft 72 which is journally mounted to the upper wall 74 of housing 52 where the shaft extends therethrough and is connected to a motor 76 that rotates the shaft 72 and the impellers 68 and 70. Each shaft 72 also is rotatably mounted to the lower wall 77 of housing 52 and extends therethrough to a disk brake system 78. The rear wall 80 of the housing 72 is contoured to redirect the abrasive particles, and this will be described in more detail later herein.

[0109] As seen in FIG. 9, the upper impeller 68 comprises of a plurality of blades 82, a core 84 and a circular support disk 86 extending circumferentially around the outer edge of the blades. Each blade 82 has a contact surface 82 and is rigidly attached to the impeller core 84. Positioned on top of the blades 82 is the support disk 86 to which each blade is additionally rigidly attached. On top of the support disk are winglets 88. These small winglets 88 can be slight upward extensions of the blades 82 that are on the upper portion of support disk 86 and have a contact surface 87, a lower surface 89 and the winglets 88 assist in directing abrasive material toward the forward open region 58 (see FIG. 9a).

[0110] The lower impeller 70 comprises a plurality of blades 90, an impeller core 92 and a lower circular support disk 94 similar to the disk 86. The blades 90 each have a contact surface 91 are rigidly attached to the impeller core 92 and are also attached to the lower support disk 94 and beneath the support disk are lower winglets 96. Like the upper winglets 88, these winglets 96 can be slight downward extensions of the blades 90 that extend downwardly from the lower support disk 94. It is believed that these lower winglets 96 help to come into forceful contact with the abrasive material and thrust them to the forward open region 58.

[0111] The blades 90 are angled or slanted moderately in an upward and rearward direction relative to the forward circular path of travel, with respects to the central axis of the impeller sets 66. While the impeller sets 66 are spinning as shown in FIG. 4, the contact surfaces 91 of the lower blades 90 direct the particulate material in a forward and upward direction. Various angles have been experimented with the angle between the contact surface 91 with respects to the longitudinal axis of the impeller core 92, and a range of five degrees to ten degrees would have good results; however about 6.5-7.0 degrees gives the abrasive particles sufficient lift without projecting the abrasive particles in too large of an angle in the vertical direction.

[0112] There is a space between the upper impeller 68 and the lower impeller 70. It is believed that with this space between impellers 68 and 70, the air currents developed from the spinning blades are more conducive for launching the shot to the more forward open region 58. Further, by separating the upper impeller from the lower impeller it is easier to manufacture the lower portion of the blade assembly. The impeller sets 66 spin in the direction indicated at arrows 67.

[0113] As mentioned previously, the rear wall 80 of the housing 52 functions to redirect the abrasive particles and can be considered as a rebounding section 80 in that the particulate material that is impacted by the impellers 68 and 70 is directed toward the forward open impact region 58. This will be described more fully later herein.

[0114] When the abrasive particles circulate in the containing chamber 56 the particles will wear down and combine with material that has been removed from the surface 51. This material comprising the debris ground down by the action of the abrasive particle material is referred to as “ground waste material”. This ground waste material has either a larger particle diameter to mass ratio or a smaller density than that of the abrasive particulate cleaning material. The effect of this is that the ground waste material is more readily carried by the air currents and further so that these can be removed from the chambers.

[0115] As seen in FIG. 9, the feed and recirculating system 108 is a multipurpose section which performs a variety of functions, namely:

[0116] feeds abrasive material from a supply location to the operating chamber 56;

[0117] withdraws waste material and some of the smaller size abrasive material from the operating chamber 56;

[0118] separates the lower density waste material from the reusable abrasive material;

[0119] discharges the waste material to a collecting location; and

[0120] recirculates the still useable abrasive material back to the operating chamber 56.

[0121] This multipurpose infeed and separating section 108 comprises first a core subsection 109 which communicates with the other subsections of the section 108. This core section 109 comprises a housing 110 which defines a separating chamber 112. The housing 110 in turn comprises an upper cylindrical portion 114 and a lower conical portion 116.

[0122] There is an abrasive feed section 117 comprising a box-like rectangular abrasive container 120, defining a containing chamber 122. There is a feed auger 124 which feeds abrasive particulate material in the separating chamber 112 through an outlet opening 126 that opens into the lower part of the separating chamber 112 that is in the lower conical portion 116 of the housing 110.

[0123] At the lower apex end of the lower conical portion of the housing 110 there is an outlet conduit 126 having a relatively short length and opening into the operating chamber 56.

[0124] To remove the particulate waste material and some of the smaller abrasive material from the operating chamber 56, there is provided a withdrawal conduit 130 which has an inlet opening 132 in the top wall of the housing 52. The opening 132 leads into a passageway 134 defined by the conduit 130 and leads to an outlet opening 136. As can be seen in FIG. 10, the withdrawal passageway 134 has an upper horizontal discharge portion 137 which leads into the opening 136 in a direction which is offset from the center of the cylindrical housing portion 114 so as to direct the flow of air that carries the waste material and some particulate material into the upper portion of the separating chamber 112 in a manner to create a swirling flow pattern. This “cyclone” type of flow pattern causes the more dense particulate material to move further to the radially outward portion of the chamber 112 and to drop down along the sidewall portion 114 and along the lower conical shaped wall portion 116 into the feed outlet conduit 126. Thus, the particulate abrasive material which is still usable is recirculated back into the operating chamber 56.

[0125] To remove the waste material from the separating chamber 112, there is provided a discharge conduit 138 that has an inlet opening 140 formed in a central part of a cover or lid 141 of the housing 110. This inlet opening 134 leads into a discharge passageway 142 of the conduit 148 which leads to a vacuum source, indicted schematically at 134 and also to a deflecting location 164 (also shown schematically). The vacuum source could be incorporating into the separating system where the air flow is separated from the collected waste material that is directing to the deflecting location.

[0126] There is a pressure tube 149 which extends from a pressure source, indicated schematically at 150 downwardly through an inlet portion of the aforementioned discharged conduit 148 and into a central portion of the housing 110. This tube 149 could alternately serve as a feed tube to direct cleaning material into the chamber. This injection of pressure into the chamber 112 creates a greater pressure differential between the interior of the chamber 112 and the vacuum source 134 to enhance the discharge of the waste material. Further, it is surmised that this downward flow of pressurized air enhances the action of the air flow in the separating chamber 112. It will be noted from looking at FIG. 10 that the feed conduit 126 is offset from the central axis of the housing 110. Thus, the conical wall portion 116 of the housing 110 has its central axis of the cone slanted in a downward and rearward direction, and the conical sidewall 116 itself is contoured so that there was a downward conversing slant in a rearward direction.

[0127] With regard to the positioning of the components of the infeed and separating section 108, it can be seen that the housing 110 is located on the top wall 62 at a forward central location. The feed conduit 126 is at the rear part of the housing 110 and approximately between the two centers of rotation of the impellers located in the operating chamber 52. The inlet opening 132 of the withdrawal tube is located at the forward edge of the top wall 62 of the housing 52 and moderately to one side of a longitudinal center line of the housing 52. The abrasive feed section 117 is located on top of the wall 132 at a forward and side location.

[0128] As seen in FIG. 6, located on the perimeter end 64 is a perimeter engagement system 144. This engagement system 144 is a system of fingers 146 that maintain contact with the surface 51. Shown in FIG. 11A and 11B is a hatch view of the engagement system 144. The fingers 146 have a forward section 147 and rearward section 149. Each finger comprises a central layer 148, rigid members 150, sheath 152 and encasement 154. The central layer 148 has a contact portion 149 that is adapted to engage the surface 51. The central portion can made from be a rubber based material that is resistant to wear and will not damage the surface 51. The rigid members 150 provide rigidity for the fingers 146 and are positioned on either side of the central layer 148. Surrounding the rigid members are the two sheaths 152 that are made from a material with a relatively low coefficient of friction that allows the fingers 146 to slide in the housing 156. In the rearward section of the fingers 146 is an encasement 154. As seen in FIG. 12 the encasement surrounds four fingers holding them adjacent to each other. At the rearward end of the encasement 154 is a base portion 158.

[0129] Surrounding the all of the fingers is a housing 156. This housing is located on the perimeter edge 64 of the housing 52. The housing 156 has an inner wall 160, a back wall 162 and an outer wall 164. Located on the forward portions of the outer wall 164 and the inner wall 160 is a containing lip 166. This lip is perpendicular to the inner and outer walls 160 and 164 and is adapted to engage the encasement 154 to keep the fingers from extending out of the housing 156.

[0130] Springs 168 are positioned in between the base portion 158 and the back wall 162 and bias the fingers toward the surface 51. The cleaning apparatus 22 is positioned by the positioning system 20 to be in close proximity of the surface 51 and the alignment system 21 functions to keep the contact portion 149 of the fingers 146 in constant contact with the surface. The springs allow motion of the fingers so the operator can position the cleaning apparatus in a range of near the surface 51.

[0131] The encasement 154 holding one or more fingers 146 comprises an engagement section 170. Each engagement section 170 can move independently of other engagement sections. This allows the engagement system 144 the ability to remain in contact with a surface that has irregularities and is not perfectly flat.

[0132] Second Embodiment of the Present Invention:

[0133] A second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 13-21. In the following text, there will first be a description of the general operations of the second embodiment of the present invention followed by an introduction to the basic components of the second embodiment and finally he detailed description of the same.

[0134] The apparatus 200 comprises a positioning system 202, a first alignment system 204, a cleaning system 206, a second alignment system 208 and a painting system 210.

[0135] As shown in FIG. 13, the apparatus 200 is cleaning and painting the surface 212 simultaneously. The positioning system 202 comprises a wheeled vehicle 214, a first boom system 216, a second boom system 218 and a control unit (or otherwise known as control system which is not shown).

[0136] The basic operations of the second embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention is such that the positioning system 202 will move very slowly in the longitudinal direction generally parallel to the surface to be cleaned (indicated at arrow 220). During the cleaning operation the positioning system 202 will slowly lower the first boom system 216 and telescopically retracts the same so the cleaning system 206 will travel substantially downward in the vertical direction as indicated by arrow 222. The cleaning system 206 has sensing devices (discussed more completely herein) that detects the transverse distance from the wall 212 to the cleaning system 206. The information from the sensing devices of the cleaning system 206 is relayed back to the control unit of the positioning system 202 and this information is stored therein. Some manual intervention may be required in controlling the direction of the cleaning system 206 so that no portions of the wall 212 are missed (or unnecessarily cleaned again by the cleaning system 206). The surface 212 is shown herein as that of a hull of a boat and hence will be curved in the transverse direction. Therefore the precise location of the positioning system 206 is recorded in the control system in all three orthogonal directions (i.e. the longitudinal, the vertical and the transverse).

[0137] Therefore as the wheeled vehicle 214 travels in the longitudinal direction indicated at arrow 220 this movement of the wheeled vehicle 214 is recorded in a control system as well.

[0138] After the surface 212 is cleaned it should be shortly painted thereafter before any rust can form thereon. The painting system 210 is controlled by the control system of the positioning system 202. Because the control unit has a precisely mapped out contour of the surface 212 that it obtained from the data input from the cleaning system 206, and further because the control unit knows precisely how far the wheeled vehicle 214 has traveled in the longitudinal direction, the control unit can direct the travel of the painting system 210 to follow the substantial downward motion as indicated by arrow 224 and keep the painting system at the correct distance from the surface. In general, this is accomplished because the positioning system 202 records its exact position and at an exact position the control unit records the exact position of the cleaning system 206 with respect to the position of the positioning system 202. The control unit further can detect the exact position of the painting system 210 (i.e. the location and the longitudinal direction, the vertical direction in the transverse direction) with respect to the positioning system 202 Therefore, as the positioning system 202 moves longitudinally in the direction indicated at arrow 220 the control unit can subtract the distance the wheeled vehicle 214 travels to determine the precise location of the painting system 210. The painting system will recorded its exact position by noting the exact position of the second boom 218 in the control system. As a painting system 208 travels in the direction indicated at arrow 224, as it gets to the bottom shown at broken line in FIG. 13, the control system will reposition the cleaning system 210 to move in the longitudinal direction in order to begin painting a new strip on the surface 212 that has not yet been painted.

[0139] There will now be a discussion of the positioning system 202 which comprises a wheeled vehicle 214, a first boom system 216, a second boom system 218 and a control unit (not shown). The wheeled vehicle 214 comprises the aforementioned vehicle 214 comprising, body 226 and wheels 228. The wheels 228 are connected to a driveshaft and motor to propel the wheeled vehicle 214. To help keep the wheeled vehicle 214 in a well-defined position tracks 230 can be employed as shown in FIG. 14. The wheels 228 have precisely calibrated distance/rotation parameters defined so that the positioning system 202 would know it's exact location with respects to is previous locations. Alternatively, or in conjunction with the tracks, a guide system 231 can be employed which is a conventional positional tracking system where a tracking tape 233 is fixed to the dock and a sensor within the positioning system 202 will accurately track itself along a tracking tape and further recorded its precise distance along a tracking tape 233.

[0140] As seen in FIG. 13, the first boom system 216 comprises a boom 234, actuator 236 and a rotating system 238. The boom 234 can telescopically extend from its longitudinal axis. The boom 234 comprises a base end 240, extension end 242, extension tip 244, and a plurality of extension members 246. The boom 234 rotates in a vertical plane about points 262 when the actuator 236 extends. The actuator 236 preferably is hydraulic. The rotating system rotates the boom 234 about a vertical axis. The actuator 236, the rotation system 238 and the boom 234 with the ability to telescopically extend, allow three degrees of freedom of motion, which in turn allows the positioning system 202 to place the clean system in any location limited by the maximum length of the boom 234.

[0141] The second boom system 218 comprises a second boom 248, a second actuator 250 and a second rotating system 252. The boom 248 also can telescopically extend from its longitudinal axis and it comprises a base end 254, and extension end 256, extension tip 258, and a plurality of extension members 260. The boom 248 rotates in a vertical plane about point 262 when he actuator 250 extends. The actuator 250 is also preferably hydraulic. The rotating system rotates the boom 248 about a vertical axis. Similar to the first boom system 216, the actuator 250, the rotation system 252 and the boom 248 with the ability to telescopically extend, allow three degrees of freedom of motion, which in turn allows the positioning system 202 to place the clean system in any location limited by the maximum length of the boom 248. Therefore the location of extension point 258 where the painting system 210 is located it is precisely recorded with respect to the location and orientation of the positioning system 202.

[0142] There will now be a more detailed discussion of the overall operations of the apparatus 200. The apparatus would start the cleaning procedure at point a shown in FIG. 13. The cleaning system will engage the surface 212 at point 232 while the positioning system 202 is at location 235. As indicated previously while the cleaning system 206 sweeps down the surface 212 from point 232 the exact location of the second boom system 218 is recorded in a control unit, this information being: the degrees of rotation of the boom 238, the angle of the boom 238 with respect to the horizontal plane, and the telescopic extension of the boom 234.

[0143] To explain the overall operating procedure in more detail, as shown in FIG. 13 the vehicle 225 is at location point 268 and the painting system 210 has just passed location 266. A brief time before the apparatus 200 was in this particular position (for example one-hour) the vehicle 225 was at location 235 and the cleaning system 206 was located at location 266 and the control unit of the positioning system recorded the precise location of 266 with respect to the location of the vehicle 225 at location 235 (this information being: the degrees of rotation of the boom 238, the angle of the boom 238 with respect to the horizontal plane, and the telescopic extension of the boom 234)

[0144] Now when the vehicle 225 is the location 268 as shown in FIG. 13 and the painting system 210 is at location 266, the control unit can determine the absolute location of location point 266 by first recalling the relative location of point 266 and then subtracting the distance 270 which is only the longitudinal distance difference from when the positioning system 202 first recorded location 266 from the cleaning system 206 and the present location of the positioning system 202.

[0145] There will now be a detailed discussion of the cleaning apparatus of the second embodiment as seen in FIGS. 15-21. As seen in FIG. 16, the cleaning system of the second embodiment has a front-end 264, a rear end 266, an upper portion 268, and a lower portion 270.

[0146] The general components of the cleaning system 206 as seen in FIG. 15 are: the housing 272, abrasive material feed and recirculatory system 274, the separation and waste disposal system 276, the impeller system 278 and finally the recirculatory system 280.

[0147] The housing 272 is generally rectangular or box like in shape and has a front open portion 282 and a front perimeter edge 284 surrounding the open portions 282. The housing has a top wall portion a bottom wall portion, a rear wall portion and two side wall portions, with interior surface portions thereof comprising an interior surface 286 which defines an operating chamber 288.

[0148] Positioned within the chamber 288 is the impeller system 278 which comprises a first impeller set 290, a second impeller set 292, a braking system 294 (see FIG. 16), and a motor system 296.

[0149] The first impeller set 290 comprises a first upper impeller 298 and a first lower impeller 300, and the second impeller set 292 comprises a second upper impeller 302 and a second lower impeller 304. The operations and configurations of the impeller sets 290 and 292 are similar to the impeller sets 66 of the first embodiment and the detailed description of those impeller sets 66 apply to the impeller sets 290 and 292 of the second embodiment. Likewise the alignment system 21 in the first embodiment is the same as the alignment system 204 in the second embodiment. Therefore a detailed discussion of the alignment system 204 will not be presented with the understanding that the alignment system 21 of the first embodiment can be implemented in the second embodiment.

[0150] The separating system 276 of this second embodiment is rather similar to the feed and separating section 108 of the prior embodiment, except that the main feed system for the abrasive particulate material is made a part of an abrasive material feed and recirculating system 274 of this present embodiment.

[0151] This separating waste disposal system 276 performs the following four functions in generally the same manner as the feed and recirculating separating section 108, these being the following:

[0152] withdrawing the waste material and some abrasive cleaning material from the operating chamber;

[0153] separating the lower density waste material from the smaller abrasive particulate material;

[0154] discharging the waste material to a collection location;

[0155] recirculating the still useable abrasive material back to the operating chamber.

[0156] Thus, there is a core section 309 comprising a housing 310 defining a separating chamber 312, and having an upper and generally cylindrical sidewall portion 314 and a lower conical sidewall portion 316. There is a waste material withdrawal system 318 which comprises three waste material inlets formed in the upper wall of the main housing. These inlets are left and right end inlets 320 and 322 at forward side portions at the top wall of the housing, these leading to, respectively, left and right transverse passageways 324 and 326 defined, respectively, by conduits 328 and 330 positioned a short distance above the top wall of the housing. There is also in the top wall the center waste material inlet 332 which leads into inner ends of the two passageways 324 and 326.

[0157] The center portion of the passageway 324 communicates with an inlet 336 of a passageway 338 defined by a conduit 340 leading to the separating chamber 310. In like manner, there is an inlet 342 leading to a passageway 344 defined by a conduit 346 also leading into the separating chamber 310. An upper horizontal portion 348 of the conduit 340 leads into an opening 350 in the separating chamber 310 along an alignment axis which is illustrated in FIG. 20 which is off-center from the housing 310. In like manner, an upper horizontally extending portion 352 of the conduit 346 discharges through an opening 354, along an alignment axis which also is offset form the center of the housing 310. It can be seen that the alignment axis of the passageway of sections 348 and 352 are such that these induce a flow, as seen in FIG. 20 in a counter clockwise direction in the separating chamber 312.

[0158] Extending upwardly from a lid or cover 356 of the housing 310 is a discharge conduit 358 similar to the aforementioned discharge conduit 340 of the earlier embodiment. This discharge conduit 358 leads to a vacuum source 360 which in turn leads to a collecting location 362. In reviewing the overall arrangement of the waste material withdrawal and disposal system and of the separating housing 310, it becomes evident that this is rather similar to the withdrawal and disposal system of the prior embodiment. More specifically, the lower pressure created by the vacuum source 362 causes air flow through the inlets 320, 322 and 332 and into the separating chamber 312 to cause the cyclone like flow within the separating chamber 312. This causes the more dense abrasive particles to migrate to the outside of the chamber 312 and then descend downwarldy through a lower end opening 366 and through a tube 368 back into the main chamber. The less dense waste material is drawn into the passageway 360 to the vacuum source 362 where the waste material can be separated and be collected at the aforementioned collecting location 364.

[0159] The aforementioned abrasive feed and material recirculating system 274 comprises a box-like abrasive material container 370 located above the main housing. This container 370 comprises a surrounding wall structure 372, a lid 374 and a bottom wall 376. Mounted to the lid 374 is a pneumatic suction pump 378 which is attach to the outlet 380 of a abrasive material recirculating line 382 which extends from the vacuum pump 378 downwardly along the outside of the main housing to a vacuum tube inlet 384 located in a chamber 386 which is defined by a lower housing section 388.

[0160] To describe this lower housing section 388, reference is made to FIGS. 15 and 18. With reference to FIG. 18, the housing section 388 has its top planar wall provided by the lower forward portion 390 of the bottom wall of the main housing, and has a back wall 392 at the rear edge of the upper wall 390 and extending downwardly from the bottom wall of the main housing. As can be seen in FIG. 15, the two side walls 394 of the housing section 388 are provided as downward extension of the two sidewalls of the main housing, and there are two bottom wall sections 396 (see FIG. 15) which slant downwardly toward one another to a center location 398 which is the location at which the circulating tube inlet 384 is positioned.

[0161] In operation, when smaller particulate abrasive material enters the chamber 386, it is drawn into the tube inlet 384 and through the force of the vacuum pump 378 it is discharged from the back pump into the container 370 for the abrasive particulate material.

[0162] At the a laterally outward location of the container 370, there is formed in the bottom wall 376 an opening 400 which leads to an elongate feed passageway 402 which extends from the opening 400 toward a center location at 404 and that turns downwardly into the passageway 406 to discharge at 408 into the main operating chamber. To cause movement of the particulate abrasive material which descends through the opening 400 into the chamber upstream portion 402, there is provided a pressurized tube 410 connected to a pressure source indicated at 412. This tube 410 leads to a solenoid valve 414 and thence through a laterally extending tube section 416 that has an outlet end 418 at an upstream end of the passageway 402. The solenoid valve 414 is opened and shut to cause pulses of pressurized air to flow into the passageway 402 to move the abrasive particulate material through the passageway 404 to its end middle location at 404 and thence down the passageway 406 and into the main chamber.

[0163] The aforementioned perimeter portion 284 of the main housing will now be described with reference to FIGS. 15, 17 and 18. With reference to FIG. 15, it will be called as earlier in this description the main housing 272 was depicted as having a generally rectangular or box-like configuration having a front end portion 282 and a perimeter edge portion 284. As can be seen in FIG. 15, this main housing 272 comprises a top wall 426, a bottom wall 428, and two sidewalls 430.

[0164] The perimeter edge portion 284 comprises an inner surrounding gasket portion 432 and an outer surrounding gasket portion 434. (See FIG. 18). The forward edge of the top wall 428 has bonded or otherwise joined to the top surface, an elongate mounting member (mounting strip) 436 extending along the entire front edge of the top wall 426. This mounting strip 436 has a uniform cross section “Z” configuration, and can be made as an excursion of plastic or metal. More particularly the member 436 has top and bottom flanges 438 and 440, respectively. The top flange 438 has bonded to its top surface the aforementioned upper gasket 434, and there is an upper protective strip 442 bonded to the rear top surface portion of the upper outer gasket 434. The flange 438 and the protective strip 442 are dimensioned and positioned so that the forward part 444 of the gasket 434 extends outwardly from the strip 442 and flange 434.

[0165] The lower gasket 432 is similarly arranged, except that on its lower side there is the forward edge portion 446 of the top wall 426 and an upper protective strip 448. The lower flange 440 is bonded, welded or otherwise joined to the top wall 426. Thus, it can be seen that the outer and inner gaskets 434 and 432 are spaced a short distance from one another held securely in place, and extend forwardly beyond there mounting components so that these flexible rubber gaskets forms a sealing function around the entire perimeter of the main housing 272.

[0166] The inner and outer gaskets 434 and 432 are mounted to the sidewalls 430 in substantially the same way as they are to the top wall 426. However, the outer and inner gaskets 434 and 432 are arranged somewhat differently at the location of the bottom wall and the edge portions of the walls 394 and 396 that define the bottom housing section 388.

[0167] As can be seen in FIG. 19, the inner rubber gasket 432 has an upper rear surface portion thereof bounded directly to the forward portion of the bottom wall front portion 390, and there is a lower protective strip 450 is bonded to the rear lower surface portion of the gasket 432. The lower gasket 434 located at the lower wall portions 396 is similarly bonded to the lower forward surface of the wall members 396 and also has a protective strip 452 bonded to the lower rear surface portion thereof.

[0168] In operation, as the cleaning apparatus is moving over the surface which is being cleaned, with the gaskets 432 and 434 remaining in contact with the surface being cleaned, some of these smaller particulate abrasive material may move past the inner gasket 432 into the channel defined by the inner and outer gasket strips 432 and 434. As these collect in the side channels and drop down to the lower chamber 386, these particles migrate toward the center location of the lower chamber 386 and then are drawn into the inlet 384 of the recirculating tube 382 to be moved back to the box-like abrasive material container 370.

[0169] The sensing system 488 comprises four sensing members 490, 492, 494 and 496 (see FIGS. 16, 17 and 20) which are similar so only sensor 492 will be described in detail. As seen in FIG. 16, the sensor 492 has a body 498 and an extension member 500 that has a front portion 502 with a contact surface 504. Th extension member 500 further has a base portion 506 that telescopically extends in the body 498. Located within the body are standard transducers that detect the position of the extension member 500 with respects to the body 498 and this information is relayed to the control unit of the positioning system 212. As seen in FIG. 17, the sensors 490, 492, 494 and 496 are located in the corners of the housing 272. A laser sensor that detects distance could be employed for sensors 490, 492, 494 and 496.

[0170] In operation, the contact surface 504 is in contact with a surface to be cleaned. If the cleaning system moves away from the surface it is cleaning, the sensors will detect this and the control system will reposition the system to be repositioned in close proximity to the wall. Further, if a corner of the housing 272 lifts away from the surface to be cleaned the control system will adjust the first alignment system 204 in order to place the corner back flush with the surface to be cleaned. For example, if the upper left corner of the housing 272 lifts away from the surface to be cleaned the sensor 494 will detect this and the control system will adjusts first alignment system 204 in order to reposition the upper left corner of the housing 272 so the outer surrounding gasket portion 434 will be in contact with the surface to be cleaned.

[0171] A third embodiment is shown herein. With reference to FIGS. 22 and 23, it can be seen that the apparatus 610 of the present invention comprises a cleaning unit 612, an abrasive containing and feed section 614, a control unit 616, an adjustable positioning mechanism 618 interconnecting the control unit 616 and the abrasive containing and feed section 614, and a winch assembly 620 by which the machine is raised or lowered.

[0172] The cleaning section 612 comprises a rectangular shaped housing section 622 in which is positioned a dispensing disk 624, that has a radially downwardly and outwardly sloping surface, and a pair of rotating turbines or impellers 626 positioned on opposite sides of the dispensing disk 624, with each turbine being rotated by an electric motor 628. Positioned above the dispensing disk 624 is a shield 360 which has a downwardly facing concavely curved surface.

[0173] The housing 622 has its entire front area open, with the front opening being designated 632. The housing 622 comprises side walls 634, a top wall 636, a bottom wall 638, and a back wall 640. There are two pair of magnetic wheels 642 spaced vertically from one another, with each pair of wheels 642 being positioned on the outer surface of a related side wall 634. These wheels 642 are positioned so that they will become magnetically attached to a related metallic surface, so as to position the open front 632 of the housing 622 immediately adjacent to the surface to be cleaned, with the perimeter edge portions 644 of the housing 622 the surface being cleaned.

[0174] The abrasive feed and containing section 614 comprises a rectangularly shaped container 645 having an inlet 646 through which the abrasive particles can be deposited in the container. At the lower front corners of the container 644 there are discharge nozzles 648 through which the particulate material is discharged onto the dispensing disk 624. There is a slanting wall portion 650 which has two side sloping sections that lead from a center location downwardly toward the nozzles 648 to enhance the feeding of the particulate material into the nozzles 648.

[0175] As will be disclosed hereinafter, the particulate material falls from the nozzles 648 onto the dispensing disk 624 which directs the particulate material outwardly into the impellers 626. The abrasive particles are discharged from the impellers 626 at a high velocity with a portion of the particulate material passing into the open front area 632 and striking the surface to be cleaned.

[0176] To continue with the description of the present invention, the control unit 616 is positioned in a suitable housing 652. This is a radio controlled unit which would in turn control the positioning mechanism 618 and the winch assembly 620.

[0177] The aforementioned positioning mechanism 618 comprises first an elbow connection 654 which interconnects the lower end of the housing 652 to a connecting member 656 at the top of the container 644. This enables the entire cleaning section 612 along with the containing section 614 to move angularly from the position of FIG. 23 to the position of FIG. 24.

[0178] There is an actuating mechanism 658 which comprises a piston and cylinder unit 660 with the cylinder of the unit 660 pivotally connected at 662 to a upper back end 664 of the abrasive feed and container section 614. The upper end of the cylinder and piston unit 660 is pivotally connected at 666 to the control unit 616. It can be seen in FIG. 24, that by extending the cylinder and piston unit 660, the cleaning section 612 and the containing and feed unit 614 can be moved about the elbow 654 either forwardly or rearwardly, so that the cleaning section 612 can be properly aligned with the surface to be cleaned.

[0179] The winch assembly 620 comprises a winch 670 which operates through a pair of pulleys 672, each of which is attached to a related cable 674. Alternatively, a single cable 674 and pulley 672 could be used.

[0180] To describe the operation of the apparatus 610, an abrasive particulate cleaning material is loaded through the opening 646 into the container 644. The container 644 would is provided with a suitable feed mechanism to cause the abrasive material to flow through the outlet nozzles 648. This feed mechanism could be, for example, a rotating screw type feed mechanism, or other device already know in the prior art. To operate the machine, the cable or cables 674 are anchored by their upper ends to a suitable support that is aligned with the surface to be cleaned. The cleaning section 612 is positioned against the metallic surface to be cleaned, and the magnetic wheels 642 become magnetically attached to the surface so as to properly position the front opening 632 at the surface to be cleaned. The radio frequency remote control sends the appropriate signal to the control unit 616 to cause the electric motors 628 to start rotating the turbines 626. When the turbines 626 are up to speed, the feed mechanism in the abrasive feed and container unit 614 to cause the feed mechanism therein to discharge the particulate abrasive cleaning material at a proper rate.

[0181] The abrasive cleaning material, as shown in FIG. 22, strikes the dispensing disk to be deflected outwardly into the turbines or impellers 626. The rotating turbines 626 in turn project the particulate abrase material against the surface to be cleaned. It can be appreciated that the surface to be cleaned substantially closes the front opening 632 so that the abrasive particles are captured in the chamber defined by the housing 622. The action of the turbines 26 maintains the particles in a highly agitated condition by causing them to rebound off the walls of the housing 622, off the reflecting shield, and also off the dispensing disk. As this continues, the material that has been removed from the surface that is being cleaned is reduced to relatively small particulates of size.

[0182] There are suitable vacuum outlets 676 which draw the smaller particulate matter out, with these vacuum outlets 676 being attached to a suitable conduit that gathers the small particulate material at a suitable collecting location.

[0183] In the cleaning process, the particular abrasive material also tends to break down after a number of impacts into small particles, and these also are drawn out through the vacuum outlets 676. Makeup abrasive material is discharged into the chamber defined by the housing 622 as needed.

[0184] As the cleaning process continues, the winch can be operated to raise or lower the apparatus, and the upper anchoring end of the cable or cables 674 can be moved laterally as needed.

[0185] The rotating deflector enhances the cleaning action by moving the particles outwardly toward the turbines and toward the surface being cleaned.

[0186]FIG. 25 is a fourth embodiment showing different methods of positioning components so that these can be slanted at different angles to provide different patterns of dispersion. The turbines 688 are slanted in a forward direction about 15° from a vertical axis. This directs the shot particulate upward to the forward open region 690.

[0187]FIG. 26 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention where the abrasive cleaning section 700 is mounted to an extendible boom 702 which in turn is carried by a vertically adjustable support mechanism 704 that rides on a wheeled platform 706. With reference to FIGS. 27 and 28, it can be seen that the abrasive cleaning Section 700 comprises a housing 708 that has a pair of side walls 710 and a back wall comprising two circularly and cylindrically curved portions 712 that meet at an adjoining edge 713.

[0188] Concentrically mounted within each curved portion 712 is an impeller 714, with each impeller 714 having six blades 716. The interior end 718 of each blade is offset from the center of rotation 720 so that as the impeller 714 rotates, its blades 716 have a slant that is radially outward and moderately rearward, relative to the direction of rotation. In this manner, the abrasive particles are discharged from the impeller in an outward direction. The particles that are directed rearwardly are in turn redirected by the interior curved surfaces 722 of the curved sections 712 to be directed outwardly through the forward open end 724 of the housing 710.

[0189] As in the earlier embodiment, there are magnetic wheels 726 that adhere to the metal surface 728 which is being cleaned. Also, the forward open end 724 has a perimeter seal 730 to limit the escape of particulate matter outwardly around the perimeter edge 732 of the housing 710.

[0190] With reference to FIG. 29, it can be seen that each impeller 714 has a related electric motor 734 that rotates the impeller, indicated in FIG. 27.

[0191] There is a feed hopper 736 that directs the abrasive particulate material through two downwardly and laterally slanting feed tubes 738. Each feed tube feeds the abrasive particulate matter downwardly and outwardly into the path of the rotating impellers 714.

[0192] As can be seen in FIGS. 27 and 28, there is an outlet conduit 740 that has an inlet end 742 and leads to a vacuum source. The suction draws the dust particles into the inlet 742 to be collected for disposal. To prevent the larger particles from entering into the inlet 742, there is provided a protective inlet cover 744 which has a curved configuration and is spaced a short distance away from the inlet 742 so as to leave an annular gap 746.

[0193] When some of the particulate matter has been broken down to very fine particles (more in the form of dust), this particulate matter is drawn into the tube 740. Also, the material which has been removed from the surface 728 that is being cleaned is drawn into the tube 740 when it has reached a very small particle size.

[0194] As shown in FIG. 28, each of the blades 716 is at a slant relative to its longitudinal axis of its impeller 716 in a manner that the leading surface of each blade 716 slants upwardly and rearwardly relative to the direction of rotation of the blade. Thus, the slanted blades 716 impart an outward and somewhat upward direction of motion to the particles impacted by the blades 716.

[0195]FIG. 29 shows a modified configuration where the blades 716 b are without a slant.

[0196]FIG. 30 shows yet another configuration where there is an upper set of blades 716 c and another lower set of blades 716 d. It is believed that by having a space between the upper blades 716 c and the lower blades 716 d provides a desirable airflow that assists the particulate material to propel forward with less wind resistance.

[0197]FIG. 31 shows a sixth embodiment which is most similar to the second embodiment described supra (see FIGS. 13-20). In general this embodiment has the separation container 800 that is pivotally attached to the arm assembly 803 about point 805. Likewise the separation container 800 could be hung from the arm assembly 803. The separation container 800 houses the separation system 801 and the recirculation system 804. The shot feed system 851 is now housed with in the jib 834 of the arm assembly 803. The recirculation system 804 recovers shot that slips into the gasket chamber 830 of the housing 806; but the recovered shot is not available to the operating chamber 838 but rather recoverable by a service man in between service runs.

[0198] The separation container 800 comprises a cyclone separation system 801 and a recirculation system 804. The operation of the separation chamber 802 is similar to the separating chamber 312; the main difference is that the inlet opening 804 which is located on the top wall of the housing 806 leads to a passageway 808 defined by the conduit 810 which is made of flexible hosing. In a like manner, the inlet opening 812 leads to a passageway 814 defined by a conduit 816 that also leads to the separation chamber 802. The conduit 816 is made from flexible tubing to allow for movement between the separation container 800 with respects to the cleaning system 817.

[0199] As seen in FIG. 31 the transparent tube 818 is attached to the lower portion of the separation cylinder 802 and defines a compartment 819. Heavier shot will fill this compartment 819 is a similar using the “cyclone system” as described in the second embodiment. In some applications where the usable shot is generally not extracted through the conduits 810 and 816 there is minimal usable shot that is worth recovering. In this case the reusable shot is recovered in the transparent tube 817. The rate of the amount of shot filling the tube 817 can give the operator an indication of the activity in the operating chamber 822. For example if the tube is filling up too quickly, this can be an indication that there is too much shot in the operating chamber 822.

[0200] The recirculation system 804 comprises an abrasive material container 820 that is similar to the box-like abrasive material container 370 of the second embodiment (see FIG. 15) except that the shot is not immediately returned to the operating chamber 822 but rather stored until the jib compartment 838 is refilled with shot. The recirculating line 824 is similar to that of abrasive material recirculating line 382 in FIG. 15 except it extends to the box-like abrasive material container 820 that is located on the arm assembly 803. The vacuum pump 826 creates a low pressure which withdraws shot that leaked into the gasket chamber 830 through recirculating line 824 into the abrasive material container 820. When the operator is finished with several cleaning runs and brings the cleaning system in for a reloading of shot, he can remove the hatch 832 and recover the shot.

[0201] In general the shot feed system 833 of the sixth embodiment comprises a chamber 838 in the jib 834 which houses shot particulate. Compressed air from a pressure source 848 biases the shot through passage way 854 into the operating chamber 822.

[0202] The arm assembly 803 comprises an upper jib 834 which has an inner surface 836 that defines a chamber 838. The chamber has an upper portion 840 and a lower portion 842. Located at the upper portion 840 is an infeed opening 844 with a lid 846 that can seal the chamber 838 when it covers the opening 844.

[0203] To cause movement of the particulate abrasive material that is housed in the chamber 838 to the operating chamber 822, there is provided a pressurized tube 846 connected to a pressure source schematically shown at 848. This tube 846 leads to a solenoid valve 850 and then through a discharge nozzle 852. The solenoid valve 850 is opened and shut to cause pulses of pressurized air to flow into the passageway 854 that is defined by conduit 856 to move the abrasive particulate material through the passageway 854 into the main operating chamber 822. The teaser tube 857 is additionally in communication with the solenoid valve 850 and will disperse air through the small holes 858 to facilitate movement of the shot particulate.

[0204] The gasket system 860 of the sixth embodiment is shown in FIG. 33 and comprises a perimeter tubing 862 and a support plate 864. The perimeter tubing 862 comprises an engagement portion 864, an inner chamber 866 and a extension 868. The perimeter rim 869 of the housing 838 has a plurality of tapped holes that are adapted to allow passage of a bolt therethrough. The perimeter tubing 862 is positioned around the perimeter of the housing 838 and the support plates 864 are positioned on the extension 868 of the perimeter tubing 866 in a manner so the perimeter tubing is located between the support plates 864 and the perimeter 869. The support plates 864 and the extension 868 of the perimeter tubing 862 have a plurality of holes that correspond in position to the holes of the perimeter 869 so that a bolts can pass therethrough and hold the perimeter tubing 862 in place. In a double gasket system as shown in FIG. 34 the perimeter 869 a is a portion of ‘S’ shaped member 871 which has flange 873 that is bolted to the inner portion of perimeter edge 869 b.

[0205] The chamber 866 of the perimeter tubing 862 is sealed and filled with gas. When pressure is applied to the contact surface 872 of the engagement portion 864 the contact surface will flex a few inches and the pressure in the chamber 866 will increase and hence increase the force on the contact surface. This allows the cleaning apparatus to have a few inches of transverse travel and still maintain a seal between the operating chamber 822 and the surface to be cleaned.

[0206] While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It s should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

[0207] Seventh Embodiment of the Present Invention:

[0208] The seventh embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 34-37. The overall structure of the seventh embodiment is substantially the same as that described in the first embodiment, except that the two impeller sets 66 of the first embodiment are replaced by the two new impeller sets of the seventh embodiment. For ease of description, rather than use numerical designations that were given to the impellers of the first embodiment, new numerical designations will be given beginning with the numeral 900.

[0209] The impeller section 900 of this seventh embodiment comprises right and left impeller sets 902 and 903. These two impeller sets 902 and 903 are mirror images of one another, and it is to be understood when a certain component or feature is described with regard to one of the impeller sets 902 or 903, it should also apply to the other impeller set 902 or 903, with the allowance being made, of course, for the fact that one is a mirror image of the other.

[0210] Each impeller set 902 or 903 comprises a center structure 904 which is located at a center axis of rotation indicated schematically at 906. To obtain a view of the overall structure of the present invention, reference will first be made to FIG. 34 which shows somewhat schematically the left impeller 903. This FIG. 34 is schematic in the sense that for ease of illustration, some of the impact members 910 and/or support members 912 are omitted.

[0211] In the following description, the term “circumferentially forward” shall refer to the direction in which each impeller set 902 or 903 is rotating during operation.

[0212] By way of a general description, the left impeller set 903 as shown in FIG. 34 is made up of a plurality of impeller components 908 which are arranged in a general helical configuration. Each impeller component 908 comprises a generally planar impact member 910 which is vertically oriented, and an adjacent particular support member 912 which extends horizontally from a lower edge portion of the impact member 910 in a circumferentially forward position. In this particular configuration shown in FIG. 21, there are actually three helixes, thus, there are three series of impeller components 908, each of which is arranged to make a single spiral or helix would have the overall configuration of a circular staircase, with the person climbing the “stairs” (if the person were small enough to climb these “stairs”) travelling up the staircase in a clockwise direction (in accordance with the orientation of FIG. 21).

[0213] Obviously, the specifics of the placement of the impeller components 908 can be modified from what is shown on this seventh embodiment. For example, the number of helix series can be increased or decreased, and the angular spacing of adjacent impeller components 308 could be varied, as well as the arculate length of each of the horizontal members 912. Further, with the impact members 910 joining at upper and lower edges 920 and 922 with adjacent edges 932 and 930, a single series of these impeller components 908 forming a helix also form a continuous stepped surface from the bottom to the top of the helix of the impeller components 908. While this is the presently preferred arrangement, within the broader scope of the present invention, it may be practical to have open spaces, gaps, etc.

[0214] To describe the impeller component 908 in more detail, reference is now made to FIG. 35, which shows three of the impeller components 908 which are part of an impeller unit 914 (the details of the impeller unit 914 being described in more detailed later herein). Each impact member 910 has a radially inward end portion 916, a radially outward end portion 918, upper and lower edges 920 and 922, and a circumferentially forward facing impact surface 924. In like manner, each support member 912 comprises an inner and outer portions 926 and 928, a circumferentially forward edge 930, a circumferentially rearward edge 932, and an upperwardly facing support surface 934. The rear edge 932 of each support member 912 is joined to (and more specifically made integrally with) the lower edge 922 of its related impact member 910.

[0215] In FIG. 35, the impeller unit 914 is shown rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, as indicated by the arrow 936. Thus, it can be seen that the circumferentially forward impact surface 924 of each of the three impeller components 908 is facing in a circumferentially forward direction (i.e. in the direction of the rotation of the circumference of the impeller unit 914).

[0216] To further describe the impeller unit 914, the three impeller components 908 are formed from a single sheet of metal, and to form the three impact members 910 of the three components 908, the outline of the members 910 are cut and member 910 are bent upwardly to the vertical position. The sheet from which the unit 914 is formed is cut in such a manner so that there is a central circumferential horizontal portion 936 which has a central opening 938 by which it is positioned circumferentially around a center hub member 940, and which connects the three impeller components.

[0217] The three impeller components 308 of the unit 914 are spaced circumferentially from one another by 120° degrees, and the arcuate length of the outer circular edge 942 of each support member 912 is 40° degrees. The impeller units 914 are stacked one on top of the other, with each unit 914 being angularly offset in a circumferentially forward direction 40° degrees from the unit 914 immediately above. Thus, a stack of nine impeller units 914 would form three helixes, with each helix extending in a full 360° degrees around the center axis of rotation 906, located at the same level and spaced 120° degrees from each other.

[0218] This can be understood more clearly by viewing FIG. 36 which shows two impeller units 914 stacked one on top of the other, with the lower unit 914 being offset in a circumferentially forward direction 40° degrees from the upper unit 914.

[0219] Reference is now made to FIG. 37 to describe the orientation of the impact members 910 and the support members 914. In FIG. 37, there is drawn a radius line 944 extending outwardly tot he perimeter 946 of the impeller unit 914. A second line 948 is drawn as an extension of a horizontal line drawn through the plane of the impeller blade 910, and the angle made by these two lines 944 and 948 is indicated at 950. As shown herein, this angle 950 is about 15° or 16° degrees, so that the radially outward end 918 of each impact member 910 is positioned forwardly of the radially inward end portion 916 in a circumferentially forward direction, this forward direction being indicated at 936, also in FIG. 37.

[0220] As shown in FIG. 34, the center structure 904 comprises an elongate vertically oriented, cylindrical center shaft 904 to which are mounted the hub members 940 of each impeller unit 914. Each of the impeller units 914 is attached to the center member 952 so as to be caused to rotate therewith. Also, each of the impeller units 914 is mounted to the center member 952 (e.g. by means of a protrusion slot arrangement where the slots are vertically aligned with the center axis of rotation 906) so that each of the impeller units 914 can be removed and replaced.

[0221] Each of the impact members 910 can be provided with a forwardly facing wear plate on its front surface 924, and as this wear plate wears away it could be replaced with another wear plate.

[0222] To describe now the operation of this seventh embodiment, the overall mode of operation is substantially the same as described previously herein with regard to the first six embodiments, with the obvious exception that the functioning of the two impeller sets 902 and 903 differ from the prior embodiments.

[0223] In the overall operation of the present invention, the two impeller sets 302 and 303 are positioned in the surrounding housing in much the same manner as shown in FIG. 4 relating to the first embodiment. Further, the particulate cleaning/processing material which is directed into the chamber can be accomplished in various ways, such as described earlier in the text of this application with reference to the other embodiments.

[0224] When the particulate material is introduced into the chamber, the material will be engaged by one of the impeller components 308 making contact with either the forward surface 924 of the impact member 910 or initially making contact with the upperwardly facing support surface 934 of the support member 912. In those instances where the particle first engages the upwardly facing surface 934, the particle would likely be deflected upwardly and very quickly be impacted by the adjacent forwardly facing support surface 934. Thus, the particle 934 would have an upward component of travel when it is impacted by the forwardly facing surface 924. This would project the particle in a circumferentially forward and upward direction.

[0225] On the other hand, if the particle first impacts the forwardly facing surface 924 and in a manner to have a downward component of travel, it would then rebound from the upperwardly facing surface 934, again travelling in a circumferentially forward direction with possibly an upward component of travel.

[0226] Also, the particle may come in contact only with the forward surface 924 without striking the adjacent support surface 934, and thus travel in a circumferentially forward and downward direction.

[0227] It has been found that in the operation of the impeller sets 902 and 903 of this seventh embodiment, there is overall a upward travel path for a large percentage of the particles so that the overall movement of the particles has a net upward direction of travel, possibly in a downward direction after one or two impacts, then back in an upward direction, with the overall direction being upward.

[0228] It is also been found that the operation of the apparatus is such that continued impacting of the particles against the surface to be cleaned would not only clean the surface, but in some instances also accomplish a surface treatment of the metal surface. More specifically, for certain types of steel surfaces which are being cleaned, the repetitive impacting of the particles will substantially raise the surface temperature of the steel surface being cleaned, and effect a surface treatment that would have beneficial results in various ways, such as inhibiting rust.

[0229] A further benefit of the present invention is that, on the average, the particle is maintained in the impact region of the apparatus so that these are repetitively impacted against the surface and there is a very small percentage of the particles which actually drop all the way to the bottom of the apparatus.

[0230] With reference to FIGS. 37 and 38, there are given some dimensions of one preferred embodiment, it can be seen that the height dimension of each of the impact blades 310 is one and one-half inch, and the diameter of each impeller unit is about one foot. Obviously, these dimensions and angular relationships can be varied to be made larger or smaller. For example, while the angle illustrated at 950 is given as 15° to 16° degrees, this angle could vary. For example, 0-30° degrees, 5-25° degrees, 10-20° degrees, or also vary in incremental units of 1° degree between any of these values. Likewise, the diameter dimensions and height dimensions given above could be varied upwardly and downwardly by values of 10% percent, 20% percent, 40% percent, 70% percent, 100% percent, 200% percent, 300% percent, or 400% percent (with these percentages indicating both increased and decreased dimensions). 

Therefore I claim:
 1. An abrasive surface cleaning/processing apparatus comprising: a) a housing having a front portion, a back portion having a back wall portion, a top wall portion, a bottom wall portion, and side wall portions, which wall portions have interior surface portions that define an operating chamber to contain surface processing material therein, said apparatus having an open front portion, said top wall, bottom wall and side wall portions having a front perimeter portion defining a general impact region at the front opening, said perimeter portion being arranged to be positioned at an operating location adjacent to a work surface portion of a work surface to be processed; b) at least one impeller section which has a plurality of impeller components and which is positioned in said operating chamber at an operating location to rotate about an axis of rotation; c) said impeller section having its axis of rotation oriented and its impeller components positioned so that with the impeller section rotating as the impeller components impact processing material in the impact region, portions of the processing material are directed toward the impact region to strike against the work surface portion so that material striking against the work surface portion rebounds back into the operating chamber; d) the housing being arranged so that with the perimeter portion being engaged with the work surface, the operating chamber is substantially closed, the interior surface portions of the housing being arranged to cause portions of the processing material that rebound from the work surface into the operating chamber to come in contact with the impeller components, and be caused to be redirected so that quantities of the processing material move into the operating location of the impeller to be impacted again by the impeller section and directed toward the impacted plane; each of said impeller components comprising an impact member having a circumferentially forwardly facing impact surface relative to the direction of rotation of the impeller section, and a support member having an upwardly facing support surface which is circumferentially forward of said forward surface, whereby portions of the processing material remain in said chamber and are repetitively directed against the work surface to be cleaned, forward and upward components of travel are imparted to at least some portions of processing material in the chamber.
 2. A method of abrasively cleaning/processing a surface, said method comprising: a) providing a housing having a front portion, a back portion having a back wall portion, a top wall portion, a bottom wall portion, and side wall portions, which wall portions have interior surface portions that define an operating chamber to contain surface processing material therein, said apparatus having an open front portion, said top wall, bottom wall and side wall portions having a front perimeter portion defining a general impact region at the front opening, said perimeter portion being arranged to be positioned at an operating location adjacent to a work surface portion of a work surface to be processed; b) positioning in said operating chamber at least one impeller section which has a plurality of impeller components and which is positioned in said operating chamber at an operating location to rotate about an axis of rotation; c) rotation of said impeller section about its axis of rotation, with the impeller section being oriented and its impeller components positioned so that with the impeller section rotating as the impeller components impact processing material in the impact region, portions of the processing material are directed toward the impact region to strike against the work surface portion so that material striking against the work surface portion rebounds back into the operating chamber; d) arranging the housing so that with the perimeter portion being engaged with the work surface, the operating chamber is substantially closed, the interior surface portions of the housing being arranged to cause portions of the processing material that rebound from the work surface into the operating chamber to come in contact with the impeller components, and be caused to be redirected so that quantities of the processing material move into the operating location of the impeller to be impacted again by the impeller section and directed toward the impacted plane; e) arranging said impeller components to comprise an impact member having a circumferentially forwardly facing impact surface relative to the direction of rotation of the impeller section, and a support member having an upwardly facing support surface which is circumferentially forward of said forward surface, and causing portions of the processing material to remain in said chamber so that these portions are repetitively directed against the work surface to be cleaned and with forward and upward components of travel being imparted to at least some portions of processing material in the chamber. 